1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a substrate processing system capable of updating a program of a substrate processing apparatus.
2. Background Art
A substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate such as a silicon wafer has a controller provided with a storage device such as CPU, memory, and HDD. The storage device stores a program for realizing various functions in the substrate processing apparatus. The program is read from the storage device to the memory, and executed by the CPU.
The program is updated regularly or irregularly, for the reason of expanding a function of the substrate processing apparatus and coping with bug. Conventionally, an updating work of the program is performed manually by a maintenance person for every substrate processing apparatus.
Specifically, the program is updated by the maintenance person, so that the substrate processing apparatus is stopped, the program stored in a recording medium such as CD-ROM or FD is read into the substrate processing apparatus, which is then stored in the storage device.
However, when the program of the substrate processing apparatus is updated, the substrate processing apparatus needs to be set in a non-product state. Namely, when the program of the substrate processing apparatus is updated, the maintenance person needs to confirm an operation plan of the substrate processing apparatus beforehand and wait until the substrate processing apparatus is set in the non-product state.
In addition, in a manufacturing factory of a semiconductor device, for example, several tens of substrate processing apparatuses are operated in some cases. In such a case, a load of the maintenance person becomes further larger, if the maintenance person must confirm each operation plan for a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses and make a plan of update and wait until each substrate processing apparatus is set in the non-product state.